I Goofed and Created a Genealogy Mess

In October 2014, I messed up big time.

Discovering my error I realized the mess I created, genealogy-wise

In the image on the left you can see many jpg files with names starting with "GBPRS_CANT_" followed by a string of numbers.

Because they do not have identifying file names in the format I tend to use - surname_firstname_ date_event) I started opening them. They are a mix of baptisms, burials and marriages from "somewhere" in Kent England. The dates range from 1607 to 1832.

One of 47 images that are not identified. The years are 1639 and 1640. I don't know who I'm looking for....
 

Because the images are challenging to read and I don't have all my mother's Kent ancestors memorized, I looked in the meta data for each file for information. Nothing. Nada. It is blank for each one.

That means I was too excited and too lazy to pause and add the meta data or  rename the files with the surname of my ancestor! Either of those would have helped me figure out who each record is for. I also wish I had taken the time to annotate each one with an arrow pointing to the ancestor found on the page.

Baptism of NIcholas Widlbore in 1611. I have now added an arrow & labelled this one correctly. 

 

 

Caught up in the excitement of new finds, I am now going through each image, and trying to match names with my master list of surnames.

I hope I have learned a lesson. I pray I never repeat this silly mistake in future! 

 

What ridiculous mistakes have you made as you've gone along in your genealogy research?